How does one get off the merry-go-round?

I recently jumped off the merry-go-round due to a business setback so the experience is fresh in my mind. I went from a new Class A system to Class B components played through some borrowed 15 year old speakers from a friend (I was happy to have anything).

It was a bit of a shock, but once I licked my wounds, I adjusted by shifting my focus from the equipment to the music. I no longer sit in the "sweet spot" and critique every note that is played and the inevitable shortcomings of the $25K worth of equipment that reproduced it. Rather, I now put on some music and go about my business as I move around the house. So while I'm not critically listening to the music, I am actually LISTENING to much more music and much less equipment.

This is not the standard audiophile approach (and it wasn't mine either), but it has changed my priorities. I've bought about 200 jazz discs, so now I actually have something to listen to, rather than a dozen or so discs that were hand selected because of the quality of the recording and their ability to show the strength or weakness of my system. So while I no longer sit and obsess over which part of my system is holding me back, I just play music and enjoy it.

I'm sure I'll upgrade again in the future, but I think this has been a good lesson for me. I didn't want or chose the cure, but it found me and now I've seen how much effort I spent pursuing equipment rather than enjoying music. Like wine lovers or any other passionate, perfectionist group of people, it's easy to lose focus and find yourself enjoying your hobby less. I now try to get my pleasure from the performance, and the emotional connection with the music. These are the things I was missing when I was listening to my equipment, and not my music.

But you know what's really sad- right now someone is probably reading this post and thinking "You can't build a Class A system for $25K, what is he talking about." I rest my case.

I recently downsized from tube separates to a solid state integrated amp and from large floor standing speakers to smaller bookshelf size speakers.
I did this for two reasons: 1. Lack of time to spend listening to this system other than for background music due to family and job commitments. Most of my "critical" listening is now done thru Grado RS-2 headphones in a 2nd system. 2. I needed smaller, better looking speakers that could work close to a wall, severely limiting my choices.
I do not have quite the same level of sound quality that I had before I started this, but the system I went to costs about 25% of what my previous stuff did new. Sound quality is about 80%. I have been able to maintain the sound quality by selecting stuff that works well together and using cables to fine tune. Component interface is a subject often overlooked by many.
I did recently purchase a used tubed dac, because I could not live w/o at least some semblance of tube sound in my system.

I was kicked off the m-g-round. I had to sell the "dream system" before it was complete, and have remained calm since (only one power amp during the whole of 2001 -- but more than 500 pieces of music). On the other hand, I get to audition a plethora of equipment -- often @ home; this keeps investment down and the family financially happy, I suppose. It also allows me to contribute a few impressions here and there at A'gon -- which is fun and, hopefully, useful.

But, you know what? I miss the merry go round. Music & books are my daily food; equipment, my hobby -- and I enjoyed it! I didn't want to get off -- I mean, crazy systems like Detlof's (D, pls don't send the Swiss artillery yet) get me going... I wouldn't mind Kelly's Boulder either, A-Porter's pre, a pair of Osiris, and FM Acoustics' big pre with modified power supply.
For the time being, I'll have to content myself with listening to some of these items.

Something is always better than nothing... and, after all, I'm lucky to have what is now playing!

Enough banter, cheers everyone!

Sounds to me like people are getting their priorites back in line with what"s important, the music. Wehamilton, I salute your attitude. Mine is very similar. If you enjoy music for it's own sake it doesn't matter what you listen to it on per se. I find many great performances on the radio in my car, hardly an audiophile friendly environment. When I want to critically listen to something in my dedicated listening room, I listen to the state of the art system for me, considerably less than $25K, but I get much more than $25K in enjoyment out of it. Getting off of the merry go round made me realize we now have state of the art equiptment to listen to. It's great but music companies are producing mostly state of the art junk to play on it. I'd rather chase the music than the equiptment at this point. I may have changed from one merry go round to another but this one is a better ride. I enjoy audio but love the pursusit of music much more, (vinyl in particular).

I have given up on hi-fi twice in my life:
1. I was played a demo system in which I heard distortion in the source of 9 out of 10 recordings. The 10th was clean, but I couldn't stand the music.

2. When I was no-the-air at a classical FM station, the sound we put out was terrible.

Therefore, if the source is normally sub-perfect, there's no point in spending tons of time and money on equipment superior to the "software." It is more satisfying to listen to real music on a system that "masks" the accuracy in favor of musicality.

Remember the sound of a Grundig console?

Unfortunately, that has to be my bottom line.

Richard